I am attracted to the lore of Frankenstein- an amour of the art of tearing down and rebuilding, refiguring flesh and ground, and questioning desire. The human body and our collective stories, lived and imagined, are a continued source of inspiration for my practice. The dark and tumultuous years of a Trump presidency followed by a global pandemic were less welcome and more catastrophic dramas, though. I often thought of how the era of disco, 90’s raves, and dance parties and clubs in general, felt like a protest against societal and the government oppression. I questioned how I could bring that into the work and find solace and voice during a time of feeling powerless. What ensued in my studio were counteractions of fantasy, desire, and dismemberment through color, material, and compositional choices. 

In my recent series, biomorphic shapes emerge in highly saturated color devoid of their original narratives. Making them, I think about alien figures, body parts, and fringe characters happily living outside societal norms. They fill with colors like bright Cadmium Orange, Naphthol Red, and Quinacridone Opera (a pink that has the subtlety of a Liberace pantsuit). The small and medium-sized canvases are nailed to panels. The larger paintings remain unstretched.

My paintings of still lifes and interiors over these past years depict the day-to-day petri dish that home became during quarantine and comfort foods that have provided solace while being in an unfamiliar place far from home. I began photographing and painting the interior space of homes away from home-hotel rooms, in 2014. While I was on the road for a photo project, I painted inside my hotel rooms; making quick diary-like self-portraits and still lifes from things like the bibles I found in dressers and towel racks in the bathroom.

 I am interested in both the internal and external spaces that we occupy. Working with both abstract forms and recognizable things allows me a dual passport between these two, crossing borders when needed.